Ellen Page
Ellen Page
Ellen Grace Philpotts-Page, known professionally as Ellen Page, is a Canadian actress. She started her career in Canada with roles in television shows including Pit Pony, Trailer Park Boys, and ReGenesis. Page then ventured into mainstream films, winning attention after starring in the 2005 drama Hard Candy, a role that won her the Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress. Her breakthrough role was the title character in Jason Reitman's comedy film Juno, for which she received nominations for...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth21 February 1987
CityHalifax, Canada
CountryCanada
I think the name came [of the show 'Gaycation' ]out of the fact that a lot of people just don't know - they don't know what so many people face around the world or even in their own country, where there's a variety of experience, and despite the incredible progress we've seen, that progress hasn't necessarily reached everyone. I wanted to kind of have this title to have you be open to the experience, and then you enter it and you do see the realities.
No matter what character your play. I feel like whenever anyone is honest and whole and well-written, you're going to be able to connect to that person because we're all kinda made up of the same stuff and I think that's always one of the really powerful things about approaching each individual character and role and film.
I just don't think I'm special because I'm an actor and I never would. Of course I take what I do seriously because I love doing it, and I love being in films and making films, but I don't take myself seriously.
I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to make the show, and that it is in alignment with what I'm interested in, with what I read about. For me, it just felt like an organic step - of course, I'm thinking I want a show that allows for more representation for the community and shows the struggles people face, especially when we're hearing all this political rhetoric - to have a way to show how much this affects people lives.
It's just something we're talking about and thinking about all the time, reflecting on our privilege - the privilege of what it means even be able to travel.
You can choose who you want to be the hero [in Hard Candy], but youll be second-guessing yourself -- theres just no right answer. Our society is obsessed with finding good and finding evil, but I think were all capable of anything.
I think it's obvious when you're watching a movie, and there's people fighting or someone's slipping on the side of the building, that it's fake and it really removes you from it.
If you are a LGBTQ person, if you're going to travel somewhere, you do need to be mindful of where you're going, particularly depending on the country. That's just something unfortunately you need to think about. It's something you need to think about if you're a woman, it's something to think about particularly if you're a trans woman, and the problems a lot of trans people face when they're travelling.
I'm not a fancy person. I love small spaces. I like tiny cars. I don't buy things, aside from music and books. I don't get loads of attention and maybe it's because I'm kind of boring. I don't think I'm boring, but I have different interests. I don't go out much, not because I'm hiding but because I'm not a big drinker. I go out and have a good time, I go to concerts and stuff.
I don't care if people like my character. I just want them to think about the movie's message.
And I think it's really easy for people to point out hypocrisy in people's lives.
I was in a store in Halifax, Nova Scotia that I love, sort of like an environmental friendly sort of store. But they had a great book section. So I went in there all the time. The woman who worked there - which I feel so bad; I've forgotten her name - she handed me the book and she said, "Hey, you should read this. I think it would make a good movie." I remember reading the back of it and I was like, "Huh." Then I just devoured the book and I was so moved by it and said, "Why don't we start developing this into a film?" So that's how it [Into the Forest] all started.
I think that is funny to say because I've always loved her work and her strength and vulnerability, and the intensity of Evan's [Rachel Wood] performances. And to know her as a friend, know her as someone who we just have fun, whatever, and then see how present she is when she's working and how powerful she is. It was really awesome to get to sort of go into this different dimension with each other.
I think a lot of people in my circle are thinking that way or see the movie [Into the Forest] and then really think that way. I think it's hopefully tapping into sort of a consciousness right now in regards to our society's relationship with the environment and our own and our disconnect from it, myself included.